Safe

"We can't keep doing this."
"Doing what?" Finn asked while turning into yet another shopping plaza.

"Going place to place. We don't even know if she is alive."

"Don't do that." Finn started while parking near the side entrance. "Don't f*****g do that Veda. We are going to find your mom and cousins and get to Colorado to meet Iris and Tryston."

"You don't know that Finn. The odds of finding her in Vegas of all places are slim to none. Can we just go to Colorado and leave this place."

"Please don't lose hope. Not now. I need you at your best." Finn turned off the ignition and turned to look at the brunette. "You tried calling all three of them?"

"My phone is dead. I used the last of it talking to Iris."

"Damn. Alright look, lets check this last place. We'll gather some food and get going." Finn was confused, but knew that Veda wasn't thinking clearly. She was in shock over the whole thing so it was clouding her judgment. He had to stall until they found her family. "Come on, we should do this quickly."

Iris had been driving for a few hours after her head was feeling less fuzzy. Kaveeta was searching around the truck. "What are you looking for?"

"The radio is nothing but static and you're not the most talkative person right now. There has to be a CD somewhere."

"Keep dreaming. I knew the person that owned this truck. He was one of my stuck up neighbors that hated everything."

"Damn it! I'm gonna go crazy!"

Iris smiled. "Hey, do we have any food left?"

"Not much. Definitely not enough to last us while we camp. Who knows how long everyone will be."

"There's a small town a few miles ahead. Dad used to take us there to get fishing gear remember?"

"Duh! That was like the worst time. I hated fishing. It'll be weird going back."

"Yeah a little bit. We'll be in and out though."

Veda put another can of fruits in her pack before hearing a loud clanking sound that seemed to be coming from the staff room. "S**t." She mumbled before grabbing her knife and walking slowly towards the door that was slightly ajar, ready for anything. She hadn't come across one of the undead yet, but she knew it was inevitable. Her hand reached out to touch the dark tan door she heard an ungodly sound. It was like a very messy eater at a BBQ eating contest. She pushed it open just enough to stick her head through and saw a dark blond hair woman hunched over an unfamiliar face. Her breathing started to pick up as she noticed the figure catching on her presence. The older woman turned her head until it was about to snap and tears immediately filled the brunettes eyes. "Mom?"

The woman practically jumped up and charged at her daughter. Dark blood dripping down her open mouth, showing yellowing teeth with flesh hanging between her teeth. Veda was frozen in terror at the woman who once fed her and provided for her and was always there for her. Finn ran in and tackled the woman to the ground, causing a loud thud. He grabbed the woman he once knew by the neck and brought down his pocket knife. It impaled her eye socket. causing blood to gush out. He did this repeatedly until the figure was motionless. He slowly got up and wiped his face causing the blood to smear.

"Veda, don't-"

"You f*****g a*****e! How could you do that?" She shouted.

"She was one of them! It was you or her."

Before Finn could go on, he was interrupted by a creaking sound. "Stand back Veda." He said while stepping in front of her.

"Veda?" A younger voice shakily said.

"Chester?" Veda asked while she looked at her cousins form coming out of the janitors closet. "Chester!" She shouted while running and embracing the young black haired teen. "Where's Ellie?"

"Here." A young teenage girl with brunette hair said shyly while joining the embrace. "Oh my god. I can't believe I found you two!"

Iris and Kaveeta made it to the town that held so many memories. Now a ruin of what it used to be. The once lively small streets were covered in grim and remains of those unlucky enough to be caught by those... Things. There were even a few cars flipped on there back and on fire with what looked like little bodies inside them. Once, strong buildings, were torn apart or burnt down to the ground. "I guess you were right with no one being here." Kaveeta said.

"There's a CVS to the left. We can clear it out and start packing up some food." Iris said, now taking out her flashlight and pocket knife. Kaveeta got the hint and held her bat with a tight grip and put her finger on the flashlights switch that was taped to the top of her shoulder. "Don't turn it on until we are inside."

She nodded and took a deep breathe.

Iris turned her flash light on, followed in suit by her sister. The blond was the first to step through the door. The glass had been broken and shards were piled on the ground. She stepped through it briskly until she was clear and signaled for Kaveeta to do the same. The girl stepped on a bigger piece and it shattered under her shoe, making a slight noise that seemed like a huge roll of thunder to the two girls. They both froze. They stayed in the same position, each watching each others backs. Occasionally making eye contact to reassure each other. Of what, they weren't sure, but it still helped. After what felt like a life time, the blonde smiled and held out her hand for Kaveeta to take some weight off of the glass.

"That was close." Iris whispered.

Kaveeta jumped a little to avoid too big of a pile and landed on Iris' feet to lessen the noise. The blond gave a pained face, but laughed a little as she caught her sister. "Sorry." She whispered.

"It's cool."

They both turned around to face the dark, gloomy store. It was hotter inside and it smelt of rotten milk due to the power outage. "Can we make this quick?" Kaveeta asked.

Iris nodded and motioned for her to check the right as she herself checked the left. Kaveeta was almost done with the search, until she heard a loud gun shot echo through the store, followed by her sister yelling, "Get out of here K!"

She wasn't going to leave her. She tightened the grip on her metal bat and ran to the sound. She stopped in her tracks as she saw two large men, lying motionless on the cold hard tile. One with a bullet hole in his forehead and the other with a broken piece of one of the shelves sticking out of his temple. Right beside the mess was her sister, being pinned down by a man that was two times her size and closing in fast. She sprinted with her bat in handing, like she was getting ready to hit a baseball. Iris was growing weak, but still held him by his collar to keep him from chomping on her neck. Her right arm gave out as his teeth touched her flesh, the weight was removed as Kaveeta made contact with his head and made him fall back. She quickly pounded his skull in until a dark red and brown liquid formed another puddle of blood.

Both girls were out of breath, Iris got up slowly and walked towards her older sister, being careful as to not startle her. She placed one hand on the hand that was still gripping the bat and the other on her shoulder as she turned her around. "It's okay Kaveeta. We are all right." 

She pulled Iris into a hug and gripped the back of her shirt as to never let go. "Don't you ever tell me to run. Ever. Because I will never leave you."

"I know. I'm sorry. It was in the moment."

Not another word was said as they both filled their packs with canned food and a few bottles of water. It was picked over so wasn't much of a selection. Enough to last them until Colorado. 

They both made it outside and started walking back to the car before Iris was stopped by a hand on her abdomen. "Do you hear that?"

Iris looked around and tried to focus. It took a few moments, but her body shivered as she heard groaning and shouts coming from the direction of where they left the car. "We have to check it out."

"What? No way! That has to be a horde-"

"Yeah and people. Living, breathing people." She interrupted before getting her gun ready and running to towards the noise. After a few minutes of running. They both stopped and looked at the scene in front of them. It didn't look good. It was a group of five people trying to take on a horde. Iris felt a mixture of emotions because one, these people were attempting to steal her car before this happened and two, they were sitting ducks and not doing too good. 

"There's is just to many of the undead Iris. We can't help them." Before Iris agreed, she heard a scream, it came from a girl, no older than thirteen. She was on the ground and hugging her legs. Defenseless. Iris was not leaving her behind. A few of the undead took notice of her and made their way to her. Kaveeta was about to follow when she was brought down by a woman. She was about to attack her, but noticed that she was in tears and very much alive. 

Iris rammed her shoulder into one of the undead and knocked it down as she grunted out before catching herself and being ahead of the tiny horde coming at the girl. She quickly grabbed the girls arm and got her up. "Are you okay?" The girl just nodded. Iris looked back and saw that she still had time. "What's your name sweety?"

"Anya." The girl said through tears. 

"I'm going to get you out of hear. Okay Anya?"

"What about my mom?" 

Iris looked back and the remaining people were either being torn apart, or joining in on the meal. She also noticed that the small horde was coming and fast. "I'm sorry Anya, but we have to go." She grabbed the Anya's hand and they ran. The girl tripped, causing Iris to go down with her. Her head hit the concrete and was being shook awake by Anya.

"Are you alright?" Kaveeta asked the woman who was much older than her. 

"Help me! He's following me!"

"Who?" Before she could answer, a large man grabbed Kaveeta's arm and bit into her wrist. Causing her to scream in pain.

This woke Iris from her trance as she saw her sister being bitten. She quickly got up, adrenaline kicking in. She aimed her gun at the undead coming at her and took them out. All five fell to the ground after five gun shots. She grabbed Anya's hand and ran to her sister. Once she was close enough, she aimed and shot the man in the back of his head, Kaveeta falling to the ground. Iris fell to her knees, ignoring everything else around her. "I can't lose you! Not you!" She ran back into the store and saw an axe that was in a glass container. She used her elbow to smash it open before grabbing it and running back. She out stretched her sisters arm and aimed the axe before lifting it up and bringing it down. Sending blood to fly and land across her shirt and face. It landed under the elbow and she repeated this until her arm was completely detached. 

Kaveeta had passed out due to the pain and shock and Iris picked her up over her shoulder. She looked around and noticed a woman waving her down. She looked to be around her age and had a sniper strapped behind her back. Iris was out of choices so she took Anya's hand and brought them both to the shelter. After a few moments, the woman had locked everything up and lite a bunch of candles. "I saw what happened to her. I can stop the bleeding."

"You're a doctor?"

"Does it matter? Follow me." She was lead to a bedroom with a nice sized mattress and set her sister down. A few other people came from nowhere and started to help out. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Please save her." Was all Iris could say before being pushed out into the hallway.

"Where are we?" The little girl asked.

"Safe." Was her only response before she backed up against the wall and fell to the floor. Her eyes slowly closing from exhaustion.